Everything about Massacre Of The Innocents Rubens totally explained
The Massacre of the Innocents is either of two paintings by
Peter Paul Rubens depicting an episode of the biblical
Massacre of the Innocents as related in the
Gospel of Matthew.
The lost masterpiece
The 1st version painted by Rubens dates from around 1611-12. In the
eighteenth century, the painting was part of the
Liechtenstein Collection in
Vienna,
Austria, along with another Rubens' masterpiece,
Samson and Delilah. After having been miscatalogued by Vincenzio Fanti in 1767, it was attributed to one of Rubens' assistants,
Jan van den Hoecke,
after Rubens. There, however, it remained until it was sold to an Austrian family in 1920. It was subsequently loaned in 1923 to
Stift Reichersberg, a monastery in northern Austria.
In 2001, the painting was seen by George Gordon, an expert in Flemish and Dutch paintings at
Sotheby's in London. He was persuaded that it was indeed a Rubens by its similar characteristics and style to the Samson and Delilah picture, painted at around the same time. The work was sold at auction at Sotheby's, London on
July 10,
2002 for £49.5 million (then equal to some $86 million U.S.). The buyer's identity was initially not known, as Sam Fogg, a London manuscripts' dealer, had placed the winning bid of £45 million (before the buyer's premium). The buyer was later revealed to be the Canadian press baron
Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet. The price was, and currently is (as of January 2007), the
most expensive Old Master painting ever sold at auction. Following the auction the painting was loaned to the
National Gallery, London, with the intention that, three years later, it would be loaned to the
Art Gallery of Ontario in
Toronto. However, the painting will continue to hang in the National Gallery, London until the completion of the
Frank Gehry-designed redevelopment of the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2008.
Analysis
It is widely regarded as a demonstration of the artist's learnings from his time spent in Italy between 1600 and 1608, where he observed first-hand the works of Italian
Baroque painters like
Caravaggio. These influences are seen in this painting through the sheer drama and emotive dynamism of the scene, as well as the rich colour. There is also evidence of the use of
chiaroscuro.
Later version
Towards the end of his life, between 1636 and 1638, Rubens painted a second version of the Massacre of the Innocents. This version was acquired by the
Alte Pinakothek,
Munich by 1706, and it continues to hang there today.
A copy of this later version was made as an engraving in 1643 by Paulus Pontius.
Further Information
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